AP

Review of Stuart Olyott, Ministering like the Master. Three Messages For Today’s Preachers, Edinburgh: Banner Of Truth, 2003.

Stuart Olyott’s name is not nearly well enough known here in Australia, but those who attended the Banner of Truth Ministers Conference some years ago when Dr Olyott was one of the speakers will remember it with affection. The pastoral director of the Evangelical Movement of Wales and lecturer in preaching at the Evangelical Theological College of Wales is known for the clarity, freshness and incisiveness which marks his teaching, whether it be in writing or speaking.

            ‘Ministering Like The Master’ is a tidy little book, well laid out, easy to follow and throwing out a real challenge to all preachers, whether they are just setting out in fulfilling their life-calling or old hands who might be in need of refreshment in their own souls as they proclaim God’s refreshing grace to others.

            In the course of three chapters our author points out that ‘Our Lord Was Not A Boring Preacher’, ‘Our Lord Was An Evangelistic Preacher’ and ‘Our Lord Was Not Just A Preacher’. And by looking at and examining His methodology we are led to examine our own efforts at being a preacher and preaching. In his own words: ‘As a communicator, the incarnate Son of God is a genius. How wise that preacher is who works to develop an oral style like His!’

            Blessed will that preacher be who reads and heeds this book.          

 – Bob Thomas